Tuesday, November 29, 2005

In what has to be the ultimate irony, former City Clerk Jackie Currie, who obstensibly ran the election, has called for a partial recount. That makes 4, with Currie, Hendrix, city council candidate Dearing and school board candidate Hammons calling for recounts of Detroit's recent general election. And we though Ohio and Florida had problems.

Monday, November 28, 2005

I picked this up over at Steve Herrick's blog Chlorophyll. The Ohio Greens announce candidates for Governor, Lt. Governor and Secretary of State, Bob Fitrakis, Anita Rios and Tim Kettler respectively. Dr. Fitrakis, known as fraudbuster Bob, and Rios and Kettler were all involved in exposing the election irregularities that have occured in Ohio.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Does the mayor not trust the Michigan State Police? Or does he know what can happen to a ballot box that lies unattended? Whatever the reason, the Mayor's lawyers have asked for and received Wayne County Sheriff's protection in addition to the State Police. This is all in preparation for the recount that was called for by the Hendrix campaign, which lost the election by 15,000 votes.

Scott McLarty, national media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States wrote an open letter to the Nation in response to their position that they "will not support any candidate for national office who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq a major issue of his or her campaign. We urge all voters to join us in adopting this position." ("Democrats and the War", November 9, 2005 <http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051128/editors>)

In his letter Scott concludes: "The Nation's pledge is admirable, but it says nothing about supporting antiwar candidates. Is this a loophole, in order not to offendDemocrats? Or is the pledge a serious statement that its support for Democrats can no longer beguaranteed? If the latter, we invite all who oppose the Iraq war and the bipartisan consensus to consider seriously the Green insurgency, support our candidates, and join us in making the Green Party the great political endeavor of the21st century."

Friday, November 25, 2005

Proposal 191, the latest incarnation of the love-it-or-leave-it rule that would subject any state that didn't put the GPUS nominated candidate on the state's presidential ballot line to possible dissaffiliation is currently being discussed by the National Committee. Voting will begin on Monday.

How this proposal supports our values of grassroots democracy and decentralization is beyond me. The argument is being made that to attract high-caliber candidates we must be able to offer a guarantee of all available state ballot lines. This seems to be pandering in contradiction to our stated values. Will it attract the candidates we want or need?

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

How can Oakland County Prosecuter David Gorcyca be 100% confident that Fieger tried to blackmail Attorney General Mike Cox yet be unable to prove it? That sounds a little fishy to me and apparently a Wayne State University law professor agrees. I'm pretty certain Fieger isn't going to take ths lying down. More on the Cox Affair(s) at 11!

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Apparently, they are still counting the ballots in last Tuesday's Detroit election and even though 'no protests or challlenges had been filed' as of Saturday, counting will resume on Monday. A state elections spokesperson says 'We want to preserve the integrity of this process'. You can't preserve what has already been lost.

This story tells us that Cox' PAC was the single largest contributor to the State Supreme Court justice that was the target of a 'secret' Fieger campaign. (Why the campaign was secret is never fully explained in this article.) Apparently that's the campaign that the AG was investigating that prompted Fieger's alleged 'threat'. It also describes a fund-raising event for the AG that sounds more like a meeting of (alleged) unindicted co-conspirators.

This analysis of the City Clerk results compares Jackies campaign to Mayor Kilpatricks and one consultant says many well known politicians wish they had run against Currie. Well, Janice Winfrey is well known now. Congratulations to the new City Clerk!

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Gosh, I don't want anyone to miss this admission in the flurry of election results. Mike Cox even turns it into an attack on prospective opponent Jeffrey Fieger, claiming he's making the announcement in advance of a threatened exposure of his unseemly actions..

Saturday, November 05, 2005

After hearing testimony of possible felony violations in the handling of absentee ballots, Wayne County Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly put County Clerk and Secretary of State officials in charge of the absentee ballots being cast in next Tuesday's general election.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Our neighbors across the river are holding their Annual Policy Conference and General Meeting in Orillia. There they passed resolutions on Democratic Renewal, Agriculture, Economics, Energy, Infractructure and Governance including a move to lower the voting age to 16. They make some interesting points suggesting an increase in voter participation would result. I'd have to agree.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

I'm curious about the Detroit News probe mentioned in this article. It sounds like a couple of reporters showed up in court and listened to the testimony of Maureen Taylor, write-in candidate for Detroit City Council. Maureen and her team have been trying to bring Jackiegate to the attention of the authorities since the night of the primary. Her lawyers had Detroit City Clerk Jackie Curry sanctioned by the court for sending out absentee ballot applications in violation of a court order. Monitors have been selected to oversee the general election in Detroit next Tuesday.

The unprecedented, lawless acts of the Detroit City Clerk have mandated a full court press relative to the voter tampering that has transpired under her leadership. As you know, there were grave concerns raised when the Primary results of August 2nd showed that we were not among the top eighteen vote getters, when clearly there were extraordinary efforts forged that suggested more votes were cast for our Campaign. When the recount was requested and granted, no one was more shocked by the results than I was. Fraud, fraud, & more fraud...

Of the 46 absentee ballot boxes that we wanted to view, 29 couldn’t be recounted because the number of votes put in these boxes on August 2nd were found to be different when the recount was ordered. Suspicion has now given way to proof that the Clerk has committed fraud and that the Primary Election of August 2, 2005 was tainted.

I have been reluctant to energize our people toward an uphill, write-in campaign, knowing how challenging such a grassroots effort would be. Despite this, volunteers all over the city who have faith in what the Grassroots can do have been waging an exhausting day and night campaign to get a seat at the Council table. The out-pouring of love has been so tremendous, the level of faith has been so humbling and the need for our presence has been so compelling that a forward pass is required to equal the intensity of those who continue to promote the Grassroots Campaign. I now declare my official candidacy for the Detroit City Council as a write-in candidate.

Our Campaign has made a choice...we stand and fight no matter the odds, no matter the threats, no matter the sacrifices. We are approaching another winter of discontent & calling real warriors to first meet at the council fire, pray to our Spirit for success, and into battle we go. Many will not survive the winter as foreclosures, along with the costs of heat, lights and water, rise with few voices in position to do battle with these corporations who would rather we die if payments are not made. Michigan is second in high unemployment, and no elected official has even suggested an extension of unemployment benefits. WHY??? We are almost alone. From this position we will organize our city and help provide those things that will make Detroit great.